Environmental Engineering Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Environmental Engineering distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

PiqCue — piqcue.com/environmental-engineering/cheatsheet

Quick Reference

Water and Wastewater Treatment

The processes used to remove contaminants from water and wastewater to make them safe for human consumption, ecological discharge, or reuse. Treatment involves physical, chemical, and biological methods arranged in primary, secondary, and tertiary stages.

Air Pollution Control

The set of technologies and strategies used to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, including particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and greenhouse gases.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

A systematic process used to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of a proposed project or development before decisions are made. EIA identifies significant impacts, proposes mitigation measures, and informs stakeholders and regulators.

Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

The collection, transport, processing, recycling, and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes in ways that minimize risks to human health and the environment. This includes landfill design, incineration, composting, and hazardous waste treatment.

Remediation of Contaminated Sites

The process of removing pollutants or contaminants from soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water at sites where hazardous materials have been released. Methods include excavation, pump-and-treat, bioremediation, and chemical oxidation.

Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering

The study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth, and the engineering of systems to manage water resources sustainably, including flood control, irrigation, and stormwater management.

Biological Treatment Processes

Treatment methods that use microorganisms to break down organic pollutants in water, soil, or air. Common processes include activated sludge, trickling filters, anaerobic digestion, and constructed wetlands.

Environmental Modeling and Risk Assessment

The use of mathematical models and statistical methods to simulate environmental processes, predict pollutant transport and fate, and assess risks to human health and ecosystems from environmental hazards.

Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment

An approach that evaluates the environmental impacts of a product, process, or system throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use, and end-of-life disposal or recycling.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Engineering strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and to design infrastructure and systems that can withstand the effects of a changing climate (adaptation), including sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and shifting precipitation patterns.

Key Terms at a Glance

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD):The amount of dissolved oxygen required by aerobic microorganisms to decompose organic matter in a water sample over a specified period, typically 5 days at 20 degrees C.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD):A measure of the total oxygen equivalent of organic and oxidizable inorganic matter in water, determined through chemical oxidation with a strong oxidant such as potassium dichromate.

Total Suspended Solids (TSS):The dry weight of particles trapped by a filter from a known volume of water, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

Activated Sludge:A biological wastewater treatment process using aeration to maintain a suspension of microorganisms that metabolize dissolved organic pollutants.

Coagulation:The process of adding chemicals (coagulants) to water to destabilize colloidal particles, allowing them to aggregate into larger clumps (flocs) for removal.

Flocculation:The gentle mixing process following coagulation that encourages destabilized particles to collide and form larger, settleable aggregates called flocs.

Leachate:Liquid that has percolated through solid waste in a landfill and extracted dissolved or suspended contaminants, requiring collection and treatment to prevent environmental contamination.

Effluent:Treated or untreated wastewater that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall into a receiving body of water.

Influent:Water, wastewater, or other liquid flowing into a treatment plant, reservoir, or process unit.

Hydraulic Conductivity:A property of soil or rock that describes the ease with which water can move through pore spaces or fractures, expressed in units of length per time (e.g., m/s).

Aquifer:An underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, sand, or gravel from which groundwater can be extracted using wells.

Eutrophication:Excessive nutrient enrichment of a water body, typically by nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and ecological degradation.

Remediation:The process of cleaning up environmental contamination from soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water to reduce risk to human health and ecosystems.

Bioremediation:The use of microorganisms or biological processes to degrade, transform, or remove environmental contaminants from soil, water, or air.

Phytoremediation:The use of living plants to remove, degrade, or contain contaminants in soil, sediment, or water.

Get study tips in your inbox

We'll send you evidence-based study strategies and new cheat sheets as they're published.

We'll notify you about updates. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.